Dancing with Fire
by Mathais
Summary: Bolin dances with fire. Gen, Book 3 spoilers.


Story Title: Dancing with Fire

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: The Legend of Korra

Warnings: Book 3 Spoilers

Pairings: None

Summary: Bolin dances with fire.

Disclaimer: I don't own the character/elements of The Legend of Korra; I'm just here to play.

**OoOoO**

When he wanted to practice, he had to go out somewhere isolated. The usual places that could handle an earthbender practice couldn't quite deal with lavabending and, well, given its association with Ghazan, he thought it would be prudent to not alarm anyone.

His first thought was that it was like waterbending mixed in with the earth. As he took his stance, light on his feet but still connected to the ground, he realized that it wasn't exactly the same.

Water wanted to be water. Lava didn't, not really. Even as it ate everything around it, ate and became bigger, it wanted to become earth again. He knew that, knew when he first shifted lava back to stone. At the heart of it, lava was still earth, and earth didn't want to move.

So, he learned how to burn it. He wondered if this was what firebending felt like, like heat singing through his veins to expel from his skin. Fire bled from his fingers and sank into the earth, and then the rock melted into fire too.

A pool of lava in front of him, small, but enough. He wanted to raise his arm up and simply force it, like he would earth, but it wasn't quite that either. Here was where all that time watching waterbenders came into play. This part was definitely like waterbending, as he swung his arms up and the lava came with it too. Not too close—he was still human, after all—but enough that it felt like flames licking at the edges of his fingers, like when Mako would hold him tight on cold nights before they got too old.

The lava followed the curve of his arm, but he was careful, more careful than he was with normal earth. It needed a firm grasp, or it would escape him. He tried to form a whip like a waterbender would, but—he hissed and slammed the lava back into the ground before he could lose control.

Not fluid enough. Maybe a lesson from a waterbender would help, but Korra—his mind shied away from the thought.

He knew the problem was in his stance. An earthbender tended to be rigid even when they were light on their feet. You had to force earth to move for you, and coaxing it never worked well unless it was sand.

Maybe if he treated it like sand...

He shifted his center of gravity and his stance. Sand liked to be coaxed and directed. It required a gentle hand, which is why he'd never been all that good at it. If the same principles applied...

He lifted the lava around his center. Like pushing and pulling the tide, he brought it around and about. Delicately, he brought it closer and sent it away and—

Too close.

He pushed the lava back down before it could sear his skin, though his fingers felt like they'd been burnt. A quick inspection only revealed roughened hands, which was a relief. A long time ago, when Mako was first learning control, there'd been a couple instances that neither of them liked to dwell on.

So sandbending was out. Lava was too alive, too powerful, to handle with such a soft touch. Ah, he should have expected that. That spark when he first bent lava was nothing that could be controlled with delicacy.

Maybe... Maybe...

Maybe it was time to just be Bolin, as Opal said he should be. No more mimicking other people, no more copying what others did.

He breathed in deep. Mako said that breath was important to his art, so maybe it would be important here too. He spread his arms, feeling the pool of lava in front of him grow as he did.

When he first attacked with lava, he remembered the rush. He jabbed upward, confidence in the blow. A stream of liquid rock followed his movements. It was too slow and graceless, nothing like what he wanted to do. But as he widened his stance, hot fire raced along his spine and then...

Red hot lava spun around him as he moved. Step and two, remember to breathe, spin and pull and push. Arc into the sky and then bring it back down.

Lava wanted to be earth, but it also wanted to move. It wasn't as stubborn as he thought; it just needed a firm hand. Nothing like the calm he'd seen with waterbenders. He had to let his will burn in his fists, even as he moved like a waterbender. Passion instead of stubbornness, not so much liquid grace as fiery will. As he spun his lava round and round until he was ringed with it, heat cocooning him on all sides, it was like, like so long ago.

Mako always kept him warm.

Maybe, maybe Mako was still protecting him now.

The inner fire from Mako, the control of self from Asami, and the fluidity in movements from Korra.

Yeah, that sounded right.

Push and pull, but power and strength behind them both, and always in tight control with guiding hands.

He didn't know how long he spent in this uninhabited plain, making lava dance and he with it, but when the sun started to fall, he let the lava drop as well to cool back into earth. He was tired, but it was like after a good practice session. He felt stronger, like there was a blaze in his heart, and he wondered if this was what firebenders felt like all the time.

He heard the whistle of a water skin and caught it one-handed. Looking up, he saw Mako on the hood of the jeep, a smile quirking at the edge of his mouth.

"Good show, little bro," Mako said simply.

Bolin grinned. "Thanks."

**OoOoO**

End Notes: Flashfic done because I wanted to write but everything in-progress was depressing, so I wrote something neutralish. First foray into the Avatar fandom, but Bolin's my favorite character and, well, I just wanted to explore him lavabending.


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